Ollie Tunmer, Director of Beat Goes On reflects on being part of The Big Gig, Melbourne June 2018

My recent trip to Melbourne could have been a little shaky - I’d been working at a school in South Korea the week prior, then headed back to the UK for the launch of www.sambaoke.com (promo video on the way!), before the 26 hour journey down under.

Despite the slight disorientation, I could feel the warm and energy of the conference delegates from the word go.

One of STOMP’s first big bookings was the 1992 Melbourne Comedy Festival, so it was nice to kick things off here with some body percussion, inspired in no small part by my time in that show. I love how body percussion is initially highly accessible, but then as with any art-form, offers scope for more complex material.

The MF conference delegates proved themselves to be a highly rhythmic and up for it bunch, happy to step well outside of their comfort zones, a useful experience for all teachers!

I then led the first of several Afro Brazilian percussion workshops. Although African drumming is common in Australia, Afro-Brazilian percussion, including samba, is yet to become the staple that it is in UK schools. It was great fun exploring a range of styles from Rio-style ‘samba batucada’ to ‘drum’n’bass’, nodding to the Musical Futures ethos of incorporating students’ own musical preferences into lessons. Delegates seemed to enjoy these sessions and I’m looking forward to returning for a school workshop / PD tour - watch this space!